EUGENIA HORODYSKA

On 11 January 1947, in Warsaw, Judge Janina Skoczyńska interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Eugenia Horodyska
Date of birth 4 August 1914
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
State and national affiliation Polish
Marital status married
Place of residence Warsaw, Kazimierzowska St. 50
Education druggist’s diploma
Occupation librarian at the National Library

The outbreak of the uprising caught me at Marszałkowska Street 23 at the Motor, where I worked. Unable to get through to my flat, I stopped at Skolimowska Street 5, in a chance flat. A few days later, fleeing the Germans, who were about to occupy the house, I got through an inner courtyard gate to a house on Chocimska Street. From there, through the bathroom window in a flat on the first floor, I saw 35 men in the courtyard off Chocimska Street. Those men were probably executed, because a moment later I heard a series of shots.

On 4 August, together with all the residents of the house on Chocimska Street, I was taken by the Germans and Ukrainians to the Gestapo HQ on aleja Szucha. The men were separated and placed in the basement. We, the women, were kept in a backyard, which was one big dunghill.

At a certain moment, it was announced that we would all be executed. The Germans demanded that 500 women who wanted to be executed first step forward. Unable to stand the situation anymore, I joined that group. The Germans announced that 45 women from the group that had volunteered first would help capture Polish positions, covering German tanks. We were led out onto aleja Szucha, where we were told to leave everything we had on us on the pavement. Five tanks were standing at the junction of Koszykowa, 6 Sierpnia, and Aleje Ujazdowskie streets. Around 200 women were placed in front of the first one for protection. There was a number of Germans dressed as women among them. Nine women were put on each tank. The tanks moved along Aleje Ujazdowskie and halted at the corner of Piusa XI Street. We guessed that the aim of the attack would be to recapture the Polish Telephone Company building [PASTA] on Piusa XI Street. Apparently, the women walking in the guard saw the insurgents, because they scattered and fled along Piusa Street towards the insurgent barricade in the vicinity of Krucza Street and in the direction of bunkers on the corner of Piusa Street and Aleje Ujazdowskie. The Germans dressed as women started shooting at the fleeing women. Around 50 fell dead on the spot. The Germans sent a volley of shots from the tanks along Piusa Street and towards Aleje Ujazdowskie. The insurgents poured petrol over the second tank – the one that I was on – and set fire to it. When the tank started burning, I jumped down and slightly twisted my ankle, hitting my head hard, as a result of which I fainted. I was carried to a bunker on the corner of Aleje Ujazdowskie. After some time, we were led back to the Gestapo HQ on aleja Szucha. The general opinion was that the tank attack had been repulsed by the insurgents.

They still kept us on aleja Szucha for a couple of days in indescribably harsh conditions. We were not given anything to eat or drink. The backyard was one big dunghill and there were incidents of brutal treatment, e.g. a German brought two jugs of water and asked which of the mothers wanted some for their children. A crowd of women threw themselves at the water. The German didn’t give any of them the water, but poured it on the ground before their eyes. Some women gave birth to children, no help was provided to them, instead they were placed without any care in a pigsty.

On 9 August, a German announced to us that “we would be released at the order of the commander in chief.” The Germans led us to the corner of Litewska and Marszałkowska streets. Then, through Zbawiciela Square, we reached the insurgents, who awaited us already knowing about our release.

Read out.